Schenley High School
* Planks about Schenley High from Mark Rauterkus Insights * During the Pittsburgh Public Schools Legislative Board Meeting on June 21, 2006, Sophia Facaras, formally Principal at Peabody High School, was named as the new Principal for Schenley High School. Aesbestos Recap Pittsburgh Parent Group Reopens Asbestos Debate :January 2009 from http://www.mesotheliomaweb.org/feb200902b.htm Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Schenley High School was closed in the summer of 2008 when peeling, falling, asbestos-laden plaster kept ending up on the floor in hallways and classrooms - a remediation job that cost the School District about $750,000 to fix. The issue of Schenley's closing has since flowed over onto other buildings used by the Pittsburgh School District and - air quality monitoring aside - threatens to become ugly, as parents and other officials challenge the District's handling of the situation. Why, they asked at a meeting on January 12, does Schenley need to remain closed, when other schools in the District, also containing asbestos, remain open? Constructed in 1916, Schenley High School is one of the oldest and most beautiful buildings in Pittsburgh. It is also the first United States' high school to cost more than a million dollars to build and contains a Skinner pipe organ. Unfortunately, extensive use of asbestos makes the historic structure too costly to remediate for its continued use as a school, according to school district officials. School Superintendent Mark Roosevelt responded to Schenley supporter's challenges by noting that Schenley's maintenance had been deferred for decades, and outlined the $64.4-million cost to remediate asbestos and renovate the school - $64 million the district currently doesn't have. Schenley supporters disagree with the costs of remediation and renovation, and argue that the asbestos problem isn't as serious as the District says it is. These supporters also suggest that the District is experiencing negative cash flow, and wants to ameliorate that situation by closing Schenley and selling it. "How does the district determine whether there is a significant risk of danger? Under what circumstances does the district seek a consultant's opinion or adhesion test of the plaster? At which buildings has an enhanced monitoring and maintenance program been adopted and as of what date? Are policies being applied consistently?" asked Sue Mietzner, of Pure Reform, a group formed to keep Schenley open which currently monitors school district operations. In response, District representatives highlighted the recently completed asbestos abatement at McKelvy, Vann and Woolslair Elementary schools. District environmental specialist Bob Kennedy also added that the asbestos problem at Schenley was much worse than at any other school. In addition, Schenley also has serious mechanical issues as well, while, according to Roosevelt, the other schools have all been inspected and deemed safe. Werner's rebuttal, which highlighted more than 40 asbestos remediation projects at McKelvy School since 1989, as well as 12 at Vann School and approximately 10 at the Woolslair building, outlines a policy of school closures which parents and Schenley school supporters see as uneven, arbitrary and inconsistent. Schenley supporters dispute the renovation estimate, saying the asbestos problem isn't as serious as the district portrays it, and hinting that the financially strapped district actually wants to sell the building to reverse its negative cash position. The District's response, provided in the form of a PDF document, says that the district "can not afford the current necessary renovations to Pittsburgh Schenley. For far less than the $64 million it would cost to remediate the Schenley building, we can actually create four new learning communities and improve the Robotics Technology program, delivering strong academic content to a far larger number of students." Like many historic buildings in Pittsburgh, Schenley will likely pass into the hands of a developer and be remodeled into upscale living units. It is a better fate than most asbestos-laden buildings receive, but even then does little to address the growing cost of asbestos remediation in school buildings by school districts facing a financial crunch. Links * Save Schenley * http://kdka.com/video/?id=41766@kdka.dayport.com Great interview with board member, Mark Brently on KDKA TV's show with Lynne Hayes-Freeland from May 2008. * The final decision about the ultimate fate of the school, the building, and its academic programs, is in the hands of the School Board. The school board will base their decision on the final report from the Task Force researching the total costs to renovate the school. Mr. Roosevelt said a conservative estimate for the costs is $40-million. Renovations would happen in a vacated building. For one school year, along with the preceding and following summers, the building would be under construction, and all students would be housed at Reizenstein. Mr. Roosevelt said that during the renovations he wants to move the Schenley student body as a whole and not scatter small groups of students to various sites in the city. Timing for the renovations is further complicated by the need for the district to undergo a thorough High School Reform Process in which all of Pittsburgh’s high schools would be evaluated and district-wide recommendations proposed. This High School Reform Process will commence as soon as possible; in fact, Mr. Roosevelt would have liked to have already identified members of a Task Force to begin this review process. He stressed that it would only be logical to have the final renovation plans for Schenley developed in concert with a full understanding of the necessary high school reforms that the district will embrace; and that can only be known over time. When asked to elaborate about the nature of high school reforms that he envisions, the Superintendent said that national models show that the most effective high schools have a smaller student body than Schenley. He cited a 2003 study done in Massachusetts by The Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy which identified an excellent high school in Worcester, MA with only 250 students. Mr. Roosevelt said that Worcester is a city not unlike Pittsburgh in being an older, industrial locale with a struggling education system. Students entered the high school as under-achievers but graduated with good scores and lots of promise. He said that the school partnered with a local university to promote high achievement in high school. (See box to the right for further information from this study as it relates to the future of high school education in Pittsburgh.) Superintendent Roosevelt has made closing the academic achievement gap between white students and students of color the hallmark of his administration. I asked Mr. Roosevelt where he thought Schenley High School fits in that process to close the gap. He commented that the burden to close the achievement gap can not be placed on the high school, because the academic progress of students is stalled long before they get there. Thus the achievement gap must be closed in the elementary grades. Mr. Roosevelt did say that high school does bear the burden of delivering academic instruction well so that fewer young people drop out and student productivity is increased. When asked to describe an ideal urban, public high school, Mr. Roosevelt said that such a school would have a few distinct characteristics: small size student body, high standards for all students, low drop-out rate, high interest on the part of students in their education, high degree of college acceptances, high percentage of students taking SAT’s and high SAT scores on average for all. High academic achievement was a constant theme from the Superintendent as we spoke. He envisions all Pittsburgh’s public high schools providing rigorous college preparatory classes to all students, with no “dumbing down” of the curriculum to simply pass on students in order to graduate. Mr. Roosevelt acknowledged that college is not an option for every high school student, but all students should be confronted with challenging college preparatory curriculum. He knows that vocational training is necessary in the 21st century so that students not going on to college can graduate with real job skills, but even vocational training must be embedded within academically rigorous classes. The Superintendent does not feel it necessary to re-invent the wheel in devising excellent curriculum and best practices for teaching. He believes that there are a number of quality schools across the country and would like to bring their expertise to bear upon Pittsburgh’s educational challenges. From the beginning of his tenure as Superintendent, Mr. Roosevelt has championed reform in the district. He reiterated that theme again to me, saying that system wide the district needs to embrace his reform agenda in order to move forward towards excellent education for all students. Summary of the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy study entitled: Head of the Class: Characteristics of Higher Performing Urban High Schools in Massachusetts, November 2003 This report identified nine urban high schools in Massachusetts (with student bodies at least 50% minority and 45% low-income) that are succeeding in educating high achieving students. Common practices at all nine schools: • “High standards and expectations: Administrators communicate high standards and expectations for students and teachers; • A culture of personalization: Each school has been able to develop a culture that personalizes instruction, while offering significant supports for teachers and students; •Small learning communities: Size is critical to students and teachers forming strong, trusting relationships, and the ability of teachers to respond to student needs; • Data-driven curricula: These schools respond to data on student performance - including those that put a heightened focus on math and literacy; and • Strong community relationships: Parents, corporate partners, and higher education institutions provide important supports.” To read more from this report, go to the website at: http://www.renniecenter.org/research_docs/0311_HeadofClass.html category: wellness